654 EQ now. What should I expect within the next months and what to do to help?

[Anonymous]

Hi all,

Here is my situation. I had a BofA $1000 card that I took over the limit in 2006. It was charged off in Dec 2006. After that I lived cash-only and I did not worry about my credit. I left the US in 2009 and I did not think I would come back. Anyway, I am back. My TU report said that the BofA charge-off ($450 unpaid) will fall off the report in April 2012 (for some reason it is not 7 years, but hey I guess I got lucky). Experian says it will fall off in April 2013.

My score went up from high 500s to ca. 650 (654 on EQ and 647 on TU) after I came back to the US and started paying utility bills and I managed to get a $500 limit credit card from Capital one. I tried to get proper cards from Chase and Capital one, but I was denied. The reason given was that I had a negative information in my report (which I guess is the charge off). Two weeks ago I got Macy's store card which just showed up in my report.

I am keeping the limit of Capital one well below 30%.

The issue is that my score just stopped around 650 and it has been there for the last 3 months.

My question is: what should I expect in the next months and is tere anything I can do to improve my score? I will leave the charge-off alone since it will fall off TU in a month or so. What else can I do?

Thanks!

[rckstrscott]

---

@Anonymous wrote:

Hi all,

Here is my situation. I had a BofA $1000 card that I took over the limit in 2006. It was charged off in Dec 2006. After that I lived cash-only and I did not worry about my credit. I left the US in 2009 and I did not think I would come back. Anyway, I am back. My TU report said that the BofA charge-off ($450 unpaid) will fall off the report in April 2012 (for some reason it is not 7 years, but hey I guess I got lucky). Experian says it will fall off in April 2013.

My score went up from high 500s to ca. 650 (654 on EQ and 647 on TU) after I came back to the US and started paying utility bills and I managed to get a $500 limit credit card from Capital one. I tried to get proper cards from Chase and Capital one, but I was denied. The reason given was that I had a negative information in my report (which I guess is the charge off). Two weeks ago I got Macy's store card which just showed up in my report.

I am keeping the limit of Capital one well below 30%.

The issue is that my score just stopped around 650 and it has been there for the last 3 months.

My question is: what should I expect in the next months and is tere anything I can do to improve my score? I will leave the charge-off alone since it will fall off TU in a month or so. What else can I do?

Thanks!

---

Well, you need those INQs from the denied cards to age..

Your AAoA went down with the Macy's card, so that will have to age some..

But your util at 30% is way too high for FICO optimum scoring... if you bring it under 9% you will see another point boost.

If you drop your uitl to 9 percent, let those accounts and inqs age a little, and get that charge off removed in a month, you will cruise up fast

-scott

-scott

[Anonymous]

Thanks Scott,

What are we talking about though? If I take the utilization to 5% next month and keep it there how long do you think it would take for me to go to 700?

Also, assuming the charge-off actually falls off TU report which banks should I try for a credit card with a real limit? I live in Chicago.

Cheers

[rckstrscott]

---

@Anonymous wrote:

Thanks Scott,

What are we talking about though? If I take the utilization to 5% next month and keep it there how long do you think it would take for me to go to 700?

Also, assuming the charge-off actually falls off TU report which banks should I try for a credit card with a real limit? I live in Chicago.

Cheers

---

Everyones situation is completely different.. so it is hard to say how long it will take to get to 700..

Both of your credit accounts are pretty new.. I would let them age a little before trying for more credit..

If I were you, I would keep those two cards aging, to a year.. with no negatives, and a low UTIL, you should see a good credit score for your situation, but keep in mind so much of credit scoring is formulamatic, and everyone is different.. I would wait a year before apping for a new card, but that is just my opinion..

I have a 722, and I have 5 negative entries still on my credit.. but I have no lates on any of my tradelines, I have a 6+ year AAoA, and I have a great debt to credit ratio on my cards.. you could have no negatives and still not get as high as I am...

-scott